This past year was a social and mobile whirlwind. From Facebook timelines and the mobile photo craze to the death of the great Steve Jobs, the social mobile landscape is changing the way tech is evolving. With 2012 predictions pouring in as quickly as 2011 went, I thought I would take a look back at some of tech’s biggest predictions from just 5 years ago, then recap the year in tech and some of the top predictions for 2012.

A Look Back: The Hottest Predictions in Tech 2006

WiFi Expansion: from mobile hot spots to city wide “hot zones” people will have wider access to the internet, but beware…you might have to pay a small fee.

Video Blogging: with blogging already hitting the mainstream 2006 will introduce Vlogging. People will start incorporating video more and more into their daily posts.

Digital Living Rooms/Video on Demand: video will start to dominate not just bloggers lives, but your personal and business life as well. Not only will videos be accessible straight from your TV, but your TV will become fully customizable. Video will start to dominate your device with accessibility straight from your iPod and phone.

Internet Phone Service: with companies like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft getting into the internet phone service business, you’ll start to see discounted international and long distance rates and phone to phone internet calls available for free.

Office to the Web: companies will be able to store important documents and information for their business on the internet. This will introduce more mobility and ease of access for the employer and their employees.

Recap: WiFi has definitely seen a massive expansion from customized hot spots to free access at some of your local hangouts.

With 48 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute it’s safe to say that online video has shaped the way we view content online…and I don’t see it slowing down a second in 2012.

Improving technology give us easy access to the internet from our TVs, but with a massive surge in mobile and computer technology more and more people are using their devices to view videos and watch their favorite television shows online.

VoIP has exploded beyond a prediction to a worldwide commodity. Companies in every industry use internet phone services to conduct day to day business activities with clients all over the world. To throw in a quick example, VoIP technology is installed at every workstation at our NOC and TAC service centers here at WorldLink to help our employees communicate with our customers worldwide.

Advances in Cloud Computing and mobile technology enables employees to rely less and less on a daily office space. Companies are now allowing more employees to work remotely while utilizing apps like iCloud, Google Docs and Skype to communicate.

The Top Tech Trends of 2011

Technology and advances in mobility will continue to move at a lightning speed pace over the next few years. So for a recap of the year in tech, check out this lovely Infographic from the people at GPlus. Don’t forget to check out next year’s predictions below the Infographic from Mashable’s Pete Cashmore.

A Look Ahead – The Top 10 Tech Trends for 2012Presented by CNN Tech

Pete Cashmore, the founder and CEO of Mashable.com, has put together the follow predictions for 2012.

With Android and iOS leading the Smartphone boom over the last few years, it comes as no surprise that the mobile market is quickly changing how we browse the web. From gaming and social media to local search, mobile devices are creating opportunities for businesses and developers to reach a broader audience.

Mashable posted an informative Infographic, created by Microsoft Tag, that showcases how individuals use their Smartphones.